Confirmation of one of the worst scandals in soccer history appears to be sitting in plain sight, published last week on the website of FIFA, the sport’s global governing body. The admission exists in a couple of lines referencing three notorious former soccer officials, dropped casually into a long decision justifying the lifetime ban of […] More
After the Carolina Panthers (5-7) lost to the lowly Washington Redskins (3-9) on Sunday, all but ensuring that they will miss the playoffs for the third time in the past four seasons, it was perhaps only a question of when, not if, Coach Ron Rivera would lose his job. On Tuesday, the team’s owner, David […] More
PITTSBURGH — Minkah Fitzpatrick has always known that playing well gives him options. When he received dozens of scholarship offers in high school, he elected to play at Alabama because it was where he would develop most quickly. Then after his junior season, when the Crimson Tide won the second national title of his tenure […] More
Rob Gronkowski really is retired, at least for this season. The former New England Patriots tight end had dangled the possibility of returning to the N.F.L. almost as soon as he announced his retirement in March, a month after he helped the Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII. Despite a long […] More
PARIS — Megan Rapinoe won the Ballon d’Or as soccer’s women’s player of the year after leading the United States to the World Cup title in July. Rapinoe scored six goals in the tournament, earning the Golden Boot as the top scorer and the Golden Ball as the top player. Lucy Bronze of England finished […] More
It would be hard to draw up a weirder Sunday than one in which the Miami Dolphins, the Washington Redskins and the Cincinnati Bengals all won, while the New England Patriots and the San Francisco 49ers lost. The surprising victories by the league’s lesser teams provided plenty of entertainment, but Week 13 was all about […] More
BALTIMORE — The most difficult task in sports right now is not a single act — hitting a swerving baseball, saving a penalty kick, returning a supersonic serve — but rather a collective undertaking. It is containing the juggernaut that is the Baltimore Ravens’ propulsive offense, operated with unholy efficiency by quarterback Lamar Jackson, whose […] More
PITTSBURGH — There were no helmets hurled as weapons, no suspensions and no penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct on Sunday when the Steelers and Browns played, just a pedestrian matchup of perplexing teams hanging on to playoff hopes. Two weeks after one of the uglier on-field fights in recent years, there were no snafus as the […] More
